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United States Patent |
5,761,461
|
Neal
,   et al.
|
June 2, 1998
|
Method and system for preventing peripheral component interconnect (PCI)
peer-to-peer access across multiple PCI host bridges within a data
processing system
Abstract
A method for preventing peer-to-peer access across separate Peripheral
Component Interconnect (PCI) host bridges within a data-processing system
is described. In accordance with the method and system of the present
invention, during an access request from a PCI device, a first
determination is made as to whether or not the access request is for a
system memory attached to a system bus. In response to a determination
that the access request is not for a system memory attached to the system
bus, another determination is made as to whether or not the access request
is for a PCI device under the same PCI host bridge as the requesting PCI
device. In response to a determination that the access request is not for
a PCI device under the same PCI host bridge as the requesting PCI device,
denying the access request such that a PCI peer-to-peer access across
separate PCI host bridges within a data processing system is prevented.
Inventors:
|
Neal; Danny Marvin (Round Rock, TX);
Thurber; Steven Mark (Austin, TX)
|
Assignee:
|
International Business Machines Corporation (Armonk, NY)
|
Appl. No.:
|
766735 |
Filed:
|
December 13, 1996 |
Current U.S. Class: |
710/306; 710/100 |
Intern'l Class: |
G06F 013/42; G06F 013/00 |
Field of Search: |
395/280,285,306,308,309,287,288
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
5379384 | Jan., 1995 | Solomon | 395/325.
|
5446869 | Aug., 1995 | Padgett et al. | 395/500.
|
5471590 | Nov., 1995 | Melo et al. | 395/288.
|
5502824 | Mar., 1996 | Heil | 395/293.
|
5507002 | Apr., 1996 | Heil | 395/828.
|
5522050 | May., 1996 | Amini et al. | 395/306.
|
5557758 | Sep., 1996 | Bland et al. | 395/308.
|
5621902 | Apr., 1997 | Cases et al. | 395/309.
|
5632021 | May., 1997 | Jennings et al. | 395/309.
|
5664124 | Sep., 1997 | Katz et al. | 395/309.
|
5673399 | Sep., 1997 | Guthrie et al. | 395/308.
|
5692219 | Nov., 1997 | Chan et al. | 395/869.
|
5696949 | Dec., 1997 | Young | 395/551.
|
Primary Examiner: Ray; Gopal C.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Henkler; Richard A., Ng; Antony P., Dillon; Andrew J.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for preventing peer-to-peer access across separate Peripheral
Component Interconnect (PCI) host bridges within a data processing system,
said method comprising the steps of:
determining whether or not an access request from a PCI device is for a
system memory attached to a system bus;
in response to a determination that an access request is not for a system
memory attached to a system bus, determining whether or not said access
request is for a PCI device under a same PCI host bridge as said
requesting PCI device; and
in response to a determination that said access request is not for a PCI
device under a same PCI host bridge as said requesting PCI device, denying
said access request such that a PCI peer-to-peer access across separate
PCI host bridges within said data processing system is prevented.
2. The method for preventing peer-to-peer access across separate PCI host
bridges within a data processing system according to claim 1, wherein said
method further includes a step of performing a normal transaction in
accordance with the PCI Local Bus Specification, in response to a
determination that an access request is for a system memory attached to a
system bus.
3. The method for preventing peer-to-peer access across separate PCI host
bridges within a data processing system according to Claim 1, wherein said
method further includes a step of performing a normal transaction in
accordance with the PCI Local Bus Specification, in response to a
determination that an access request is for a PCI device under a same PCI
host bridge as said requesting PCI device.
4. The method for preventing peer-to-peer access across separate PCI host
bridges within a data processing system according to claim 1, wherein said
step of determining whether or not an access request from a PCI device is
for a system memory attached to a system bus is performed by utilizing a
top-of-system-memory register.
5. The method for preventing peer-to-peer access across separate PCI host
bridges within a data processing system according to claim 1, wherein said
denying step further includes a step of performing a target-abort to said
access request.
6. The method for preventing peer-to-peer access across separate PCI host
bridges within a data processing system according to claim 1, wherein said
denying step further includes a step of ignoring said access request
without claiming a cycle.
7. A computer system having an architecture for preventing peer-to-peer
access across separate PCI host bridges, said computer system comprising:
means for determining whether or not an access request from a PCI device is
for a system memory attached to a system bus;
means for determining whether or not said access request is for a PCI
device under a same PCI host bridge as said requesting PCI device, in
response to a determination that an access request is not for a system
memory attached to a system bus; and
means for denying said access request, in response to a determination that
said access request is not for a PCI device under a same PCI host bridge
as said requesting PCI device, such that a PCI peer-to-peer access across
separate PCI host bridges within said computer system is prevented.
8. The computer system having an architecture for preventing peer-to-peer
access across separate PCI host bridges according to claim 7, wherein said
computer system further includes a means for performing a normal
transaction in accordance with the PCI Local Bus Specification, in
response to a determination that an access request is for a system memory
attached to a system bus.
9. The computer system having an architecture for preventing peer-to-peer
access across separate PCI host bridges according to claim 7, wherein said
computer system further includes a means for performing a normal
transaction in accordance with the PCI Local Bus Specification, in
response to a determination that an access request is for a PCI device
under a same PCI host bridge as said requesting PCI device.
10. The computer system having an architecture for preventing peer-to-peer
access across separate PCI host bridges according to claim 7, wherein said
means for determining whether or not an access request from a PCI device
is for a system memory attached to a system bus further includes a
top-of-system-memory register.
11. The computer system having an architecture for preventing peer-to-peer
access across separate PCI host bridges according to claim 7, wherein said
means for denying further includes a means for performing a target-abort
to said access request.
12. The computer system having an architecture for preventing peer-to-peer
access across separate PCI host bridges according to claim 7, wherein said
means for denying further includes a means for ignoring said access
request without claiming a cycle.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO A RELATED APPLICATION
The present invention is related to the subject matter of a co-pending
United States Patent Application entitled "Method and System for
Supporting Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Peer-to-Peer Access
Across Multiple PCI Host Bridges within a Data Processing System", Ser.
No. 08/766,736 (IBM Docket No. AT9-96-096) filed Dec. 13, 1996, and
assigned to the assignee herein named. The content of the above-mentioned
co-pending United States Patent Application is incorporated by reference
herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and system for data processing in
general and, in particular, to a method and system for handling Peripheral
Component Interconnect (PCI) peer-to-peer accesses within a
data-processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention
relates to a method and system for preventing PCI peer-to-peer access
across multiple PCI host bridges within a data-processing system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A computer system or data-processing system typically includes a system
bus. Attached to the system bus are various devices that may communicate
locally with each other over the system bus. For example, a typical
computer system includes a system bus to which a central processing unit
(CPU) is attached and over which the CPU communicates directly with a
system memory that is also attached to the system bus.
In addition, the computer system may include a local bus for connecting
certain highly integrated peripheral components on the same bus as the
CPU. One such local bus is known as the Peripheral Component Interconnect
(PCI) bus. Under the PCI local bus standard, peripheral components can
directly connect to a PCI local bus without the need for glue logic. Thus,
PCI provides a bus standard on which high-performance peripheral devices,
such as graphics devices and hard disk drives, can be coupled to the CPU,
thereby permitting these high-performance peripheral devices to avoid the
general access latency and the bandwidth constraints that would have
occurred if these peripheral devices were connected to a standard
peripheral bus. Details on the PCI local bus standard can be obtained
under the PCI Local Bus Specification, Revision 2.1, from the PCI Special
Interest Group, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Generally, each system bus and local bus utilizes an independent set of
protocols (or rules) to conduct data transfers between various devices
attached to it. Each of these protocols is designed into a bus directly
and is commonly referred to as the "architecture" of the bus. In a data
transfer between different bus architectures, data being transferred from
the first bus architecture may not be in a form that is usable or
intelligible by the receiving second bus architecture. Accordingly,
communication problems may occur when data must be transferred between
different types of buses, such as transferring data from a PCI device on a
PCI local bus to a CPU on a system bus. Thus, a mechanism is developed for
"translating" data that are required to be transferred from one bus
architecture to another. This translation mechanism is normally contained
in a hardware device in the form of a bus-to-bus bridge (or interface)
through which the two different types of buses are connected.
Incidentally, bus-to-bus bridges have been designed to match the
communication protocol of one bus with that of another in order to permit
system-wide communications between devices on different buses. For
example, the bus-to-bus bridge connecting between a system bus and a PCI
local bus is called a PCI host bridge. The PCI host bridge contains all
the logic and hardware for translating data communications between the
system bus and the PCI local bus, and ensures that data is transferred
between these two buses intelligibly.
In a PCI-based system where there are multiple PCI host bridges, there
needs to be a way, however, for a PCI host bridge to differentiate as to
whether a PCI device, during a direct memory access (DMA) request, is
trying to access the system memory or another PCI device. Further, if the
requesting PCI device is trying to access another PCI device, the PCI host
bridge also needs to determine whether the other PCI device is attached to
the same PCI bus under the same PCI host bridge as the requesting PCI
device or a different PCI bus under a different PCI host bridge from the
requesting PCI device. Under the Common Hardware Reference Platform
(CHRP), peer-to-peer traffic from a PCI device under one PCI host bridge
to a PCI device under a different PCI host bridge is an acceptable
operation; however, it does not define or require such operation.
Similarly, the PCI Local Bus Specification is also silent as to this kind
of peer-to-peer traffic. In fact, the PCI Local Bus Specification neither
defines (or requires) peer-to-peer access across separate PCI host bridges
nor disallows the possibly of such. However, if this undefined situation
of peer-to-peer access across separate PCI host bridges is ignored, it may
lead to indeterminate and undesirable results caused by the PCI host
bridge involved in the attempted peer-to-peer transaction. Consequently,
it would be desirable to provide a method and system for detecting and
preventing peer-to-peer access across separate PCI buses via separate PCI
host bridges within a data-processing system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, it is therefore an object of the present
invention to provide an improved method and system for data processing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved method
and system for handling PCI peer-to-peer accesses within a data-processing
system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved
method and system for preventing PCI peer-to-peer access across separate
PCI host bridges within a data-processing system.
In accordance with the method and system of the present invention, during
an access request from a PCI device, a first determination is made as to
whether or not the access request is for a system memory attached to a
system bus. In response to a determination that the access request is not
for a system memory attached to the system bus, another determination is
made as to whether or not the access request is for a PCI device under the
same PCI host bridge as the requesting PCI device. In response to a
determination that the access request is not for a PCI device under the
same PCI host bridge as the requesting PCI device, denying the access
request such that a PCI peer-to-peer access across separate PCI host
bridges within a data processing system is prevented.
All objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become
apparent in the following detailed written description.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention itself, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects,
and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the
following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a typical computer system having a PCI local
bus architecture, which may utilize a preferred embodiment of the present
invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a configuration having separate PCI local
buses under separate PCI host bridges, in accordance with a preferred
embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a PCI host bridge in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a memory map to be utilized by the PCI host
bridge of FIG. 3, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention; and
FIG. 5 is a high-level logic flow diagram of a method for preventing
peer-to-peer access across separate PCI host bridges within a data
processing system, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the
present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The present invention may be applicable in a variety of computers under a
number of different operating systems. The computer may be, for example, a
personal computer, a mini-computer, or a mainframe computer. For the
purpose of illustration, a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
as described below, is implemented on a mini-computer, such as the
RS/6000.TM. series manufactured by International Business Machines
Corporation.
Referring now to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1, there is
depicted a block diagram of a typical computer system having a PCI local
bus architecture, which may utilize a preferred embodiment of the present
invention. As shown, a processor 12, a cache memory 13, a memory
controller 14, and a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) 15 are connected
to a system bus 28 of a computer system 10. Processor 12, cache memory 13,
memory controller 14, and DRAM 15 are also coupled to a PCI local bus 20
of computer system 10 through a PCI host bridge 11. PCI host bridge 11
provides a low latency path through which processor 12 may directly access
PCI devices mapped anywhere within bus memory and/or I/O address spaces.
PCI host bridge 11 also provides a high bandwidth path allowing PCI
masters direct access to DRAM 15. PCI host bridge 11 may include various
functions such as data buffering/posting and arbitration.
Also attaching to PCI local bus 20 may be other devices such as a
local-area network (LAN) interface 16 and a small computer system
interface (SCSI) 18. LAN interface 16 is for connecting computer system 10
to a local-area network 17 such as Ethernet or token-ring. SCSI 18 is
utilized to control high-speed SCSI disk drives 19.
In general, PCI local bus 20 may support up to four add-in board connectors
without requiring any expansion capability. Audio adaptor board 22, motion
video adaptor board 23, and graphics adaptor board 24 are examples of some
devices that may be attached to PCI local bus 20 via add-in board
connectors.
With reference now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a configuration having
separate PCI local buses under separate PCI host bridges, according to a
preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown, processor(s) 25
and a system memory 26 are coupled for communication over a system bus 28.
In a preferred embodiment, system bus 28 provides a 32-bit memory address
space and a 16-bit I/O address space. A PCI host bridge 30 enables
communications between bus agents coupled to system bus 28 and bus agents
coupled to a PCI local bus 29.
PCI devices 40-42 are bus agents coupled for communication over PCI local
bus 29. In addition, PCI host bridge 30 is coupled as a bus agent for
communication over PCI local bus 29. PCI host bridge 30 has the capability
to be an initiator and a target for the access cycle over PCI local bus
29. In a preferred embodiment, PCI local bus 29 comprises 32-bit memory
address and 32-bit I/O address spaces, having addresses and data
multiplexed over the same bus.
A bus bridge, such as PCI host bridge 30, is coupled between a primary bus
and a secondary bus. A bus bridge enables an access request that initiates
on the primary bus to have a destination on the secondary bus, and enables
an access request that initiates on the secondary bus to have a
destination on the primary bus. For example, after receiving an access
request from system bus 28, PCI host bridge 30 will initiate an access
request on PCI local bus 29 to communicate with one or more of PCI devices
40-42. Or, after receiving an access request from PCI local bus 29, PCI
host bridge will initiate an access request on system bus 28 to
communicate with system memory 26.
In addition to PCI host bridge 30, a PCI host bridge 32 is also attached to
system bus 28. Similar to PCI host bridge 30, PCI host bridge 32 enables
communications between bus agents coupled to system bus 28 and bus agents
coupled to a PCI local bus 31. Attaching to PCI local bus 31 are PCI
device 43 and PCI device 44.
Referring now to FIG. 3, there is depicted a block diagram of a PCI host
bridge in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
As shown, PCI host bridge is coupled to system bus 28 via system interface
52 and bus 56. Similarly, PCI host bridge is coupled to PCI local bus 29
via PCI interface 55 and bus 57. Any in-bound transaction traffic
travelling from PCI interface 55 to system interface 52 are handled
through in-bound buffers 54. On the other hand, any out-bound transaction
traffic travelling from system interface 52 to PCI interface 55 are
handled through out-bound buffers 53. The in-bound transaction traffic and
the out-bound transaction traffic are directed by a state machine within
control logic 51. This state machine controls a first set of transaction
router (not shown) and transaction selection (not shown) for in-bound data
and a second set of transaction router and transaction selection for
out-bound data. In addition, control logic 51 may also include functions
such as address decoding, data buffering, and other PCI control functions
such as arbitration. A top-of-system-memory register 58 is preferably
included within control logic 51 for a purpose that will be described
infra.
With reference now to FIG. 4, there is depicted a block diagram of a memory
map to be utilized by the PCI host bridge of FIG. 3, in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown, memory map 60
comprises a first bus memory address space 61, a second bus memory address
space 62, and a system memory address space 63. System memory address
space 63 is contiguous such that address space 63 does not have any other
address, such as bus memory address, interspersed within. Similarly, first
bus memory address space 61 and second bus memory address space 62 are
also separately contiguous such that address space 61 and address space 62
do not have any other address interspersed within.
Generally, when a PCI device on a PCI local bus performs a direct memory
access (DMA) request, such access request may be for the system memory,
for the same address space under the same PCI host bridge as the
requesting PCI device, or for an address space under another PCI host
bridge. As a preferred embodiment of the invention, an access request to
the system memory is indexed to system memory address space 63, while an
access request to a PCI device under the same PCI host bridge as the
requesting PCI device is indexed to second bus memory address space 62.
First bus memory address space 61 is specifically reserved for any access
request to a PCI device that is under a different PCI host bridge. Any
address space that is above system memory address space 63 in memory map
60 is considered above the top-of-system memory. Hence, by utilizing
top-of-system-memory register 58, an access request for the system memory
can be distinguished from an access request for a PCI device under the
same PCI host bridge as the requesting PCI device, or for a PCI device
under a different PCI host bridge. Because the decoding for access request
under the same PCI host bridge may be done anyway, the additional compare
on this new top-of-system-memory decode can be combined with the decoding
to determine when the access request is for a PCI device under a different
PCI host bridge. That is, if the address to be accessed is above system
memory address space 63 and is not for a PCI device under the same PCI
host bridge as the requesting PCI device, such access request must be for
a PCI device under a different PCI host bridge.
If a preferred action after the detection of a PCI device attempting to
access another PCI device under either the same PCI host bridge or a
different PCI host bridge is to ignore such request, then it is only
necessary to detect whether or not the access request is for system memory
address space 61. However, if a preferred action is to issue a
target-abort in accordance with the PCI Local Bus Specification, for a PCI
device attempting to access another PCI device under a different PCI host
bridge, then a subsequent decoding of whether the access request is for
address space 61 or for address space 62 is further required.
By having a top-of-system-memory register 58 to indicate the top-of-system
memory, the top-of-system memory can be programmable. Thus, when the
computer system is initialized, the amount of system memory is determined
and the proper value may be programmed into top-of-system-memory register
58 or by utilizing range registers that are based on how the system memory
address space 63 is mapped into address map 60.
One skilled in the art will appreciate that the arrangement of address
spaces in memory map 60 of FIG. 4 is only one example of many possible
ways in which the system memory, the bus memory, and any other bus memory
can be mapped. As mentioned previously, range registers can also be
utilized within a PCI host bridge to be programmed to detect each of the
assigned address spaces.
Referring now to FIG. 5, there is illustrated a high-level logic flow
diagram of a method for preventing peer-to-peer access across separate PCI
host bridges within a data processing system, in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the present invention. Starting at block 51, a
determination is made as to whether or not an access request from a PCI
device attached to the PCI local bus is for a system memory attached to
the system bus, as shown in block 52. If the access request is for a
system memory attached to the system bus, then normal transaction is
performed to the system memory according to the PCI Local Bus
Specification, as depicted in block 53.
However, if the access request is not for a system memory attached to the
system bus, then another determination is made as to whether or not the
target PCI device is under the same PCI host bridge as the requesting PCI
device, as shown in block 54. If the target PCI device is under the same
PCI host bridge as the requesting PCI device (such as an access request
from PCI device 40 to PCI device 42 in FIG. 2), then normal transaction is
performed according to the PCI Local Bus Specification, as depicted in
block 55.
Otherwise, if the target PCI device is not under the same PCI host bridge
as the requesting PCI device (such as an access request from PCI device 40
to PCI device 43 in FIG. 2), then the access request is denied, as shown
in block 56. The denial of access request can either be carrying out a
target-abort operation or simply ignoring the access request without
claiming the cycle. A target-abort operation indicates the target PCI
device requires the access request to be stopped and does not want the
requesting PCI device to repeat the access request again. In terms of
ignoring the access request without claiming the cycle, the control logic
of the PCI host bridge may be designed to not respond to the requesting
PCI device.
As has been described, the present invention provides an improved method
and system for preventing peer-to-peer access across separate PCI host
bridges within a data processing system. Although PCI host bridges are not
required by the PCI local bus architecture to handle accesses from one PCI
host bridge to another PCI host bridge, it is crucial for the PCI host
bridge not to corrupt the computer system if such accesses are attempted.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with
reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those
skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made
therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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